Posts tagged #travel

My 90th country started with a laptop in a café and ended, the next evening, at the control desk of a Soviet telescope nobody has used since 2012. In between: a pink sunset over Mount Ararat, a church cut into a cliff and a gorge lined with stone columns so regular they look man-made. Armenia was the last stop of the Road to 90 trip, and the only one where I had company: Bohdan, a Ukrainian…

In Ukraine we count our history from Kyivan Rus, about a thousand years ago. In Bahrain I stood on a mound that people had been building on for more than four thousand years, and I honestly couldn't picture that much time. Bahrain became my 89th country on October 17, after a 75-minute Kuwait Airways flight from Kuwait City, and I had about 28 hours there: a car I rented on the spot, a sunset…

I was walking along the beach towards Kuwait Towers when a local guy asked if he could film a short interview with me: who I am, why I came, what I find interesting about Kuwait. I said yes. The interview took a few minutes, and then we spent about six more hours together — Kuwait's history, the old souq, dinner, and a drink I now call my favorite. Kuwait became my 88th country at 02:40 on…

Baku felt like home, and I had less than 20 hours there. Azerbaijan became my 87th country on October 15, 2026: the Wizz Air flight from Budapest landed in Baku at 03:50, and the next one, to Kuwait, left at 23:30 the same day. In between I walked the whole seafront, ate the best shawarma of my life and sat down on the cobblestones of the Old City to recreate a scene from a Soviet comedy. It was…

Baku and Yerevan are about 450 km apart. I went from one to the other through Kuwait, Bahrain and a night in Sharjah — and that detour is how my country count went from 86 to 90 in a single week. Four new countries, 8 flights, 8 airport lounges, between October 14 and 21, 2026. This post covers the whole route and the bits between the countries; each country has its own post. It started as a…

After Kyoto, a night on Mt. Fuji and two days of Tokyo crowds, we flew to Siargao for 4 days of full chill-out. The Philippines became my 86th country — the last new one on this Asia trip. My fiancée tried surfing for the first time at the famous Cloud 9, and I found out the famous wave isn't for everyone. We also got two cats we didn't plan for, and an ATM with a screen melting in the sun. The…

We climbed Mt. Fuji in August 2026 the "wrong" way around: up the steep, rocky Subashiri trail and down the easy Yoshida trail. Two days, one night in a mountain hut at about 3,000 m, one 2 am start — and the top highlight of my four-week Asia trip. Below: getting from Kyoto to the trail, the 2026 fees and registration, gear rental, the hut, and the one junction on the way down you really…

Tokyo is now my favorite city in the world, and I only had two nights there. Japan became my country #85 in August 2026, one week of my four-week Asia trip: three nights in Kyoto, a night in a hut on Mt. Fuji, and two nights in Tokyo. This post covers Kyoto's five fires on August 16, a hotel public bath I didn't expect to love, and Shibuya at night. Japan is home to almost 123 million people, and…

In Seoul, a restaurant full of aquariums wouldn't sell me a few cakes unless I also ordered a drink I didn't want. That, and Google Maps being unable to give walking directions in 2026, were the two things about South Korea — my 84th country — that I didn't see coming. Everything else in our 2 full days was easy to like: the most comfortable bus of my life, a stone bathtub, Seoul from almost 500…

Taipei is where I finally bought a new DJI controller — I'd drowned the old one a few days before leaving home, and it took almost two weeks of our month-long Asia trip to replace it. Taiwan became my 83rd country: 2 nights, one day with a local friend, and a sunset from a hill instead of the top of Taipei 101. I found Taipei really nice, and my girlfriend liked it even more. If you travel on a…

Laos became my 82nd country, and we spent exactly one night in it. We came overland from Udon Thani, crossed the Friendship Bridge on an e-visa, had perfectly real US dollars rejected for being slightly creased, and ended the day with a 2-hour massage for $20 — for two. If you're planning the Udon Thani to Vientiane route, the short answer is right below, and the rest of the practical notes are…

My third time in Bangkok, if not the fourth — and 7.5 years after the first one. This time the city was a base, not the destination: two short stays around a one-night detour to Laos in the middle of our 4-week trip across Asia. In between, I found the Grand Palace closed and went up a tower whose roof slowly spins about 300 meters above the streets. Thailand hardly needs an introduction (I've…

We landed in Vietnam at 00:40, straight after a 16-hour layover in Beijing that somehow included the Great Wall of China. Vietnam became my 81st country, and for the first two days all we wanted from it was sleep. Then came 5 days in Da Nang: my girlfriend's first scuba dive, an electric scooter on roads that are 80% scooters, and a dragon-shaped bridge I crossed again and again. This was the…

We landed in Beijing around 4 am with a 16-hour layover and, as it turned out, no internet. Google didn't work, our VPN wouldn't connect over the airport Wi-Fi, and the only navigation we had was reading map app names off posters. A few hours later we were standing on the Great Wall of China — on a free tour that starts right at the airport — and China became my 80th country. Four weeks later we…

Guess how many flights fit into 4 weeks in Asia? We took 16 — plus one Shinkansen and a few buses — through 9 countries between July 29 and August 27, 2026. Seven of those countries were new to me, #80 to #86, and a hot, crowded day on the Great Wall of China closed my list of the New 7 Wonders of the World at 7/7. This post is the overview: the route, and the few things that made 16 flights feel…

I love Google. I worked at Google. It was my childhood dream to work there, and I made it happen. So what I'm about to tell you isn't coming from a place of hate — it's coming from a place of genuine disappointment. Google deleted 10 years of my location history. Not intentionally, but that doesn't make it any better. How Many People Lost Their Google Maps Timeline? Google never published a…

Kosovo is one of the "youngest" countries in Europe, having declared its independence in 2008 (fact: Ukraine has not recognized Kosovo's independence). Its capital, Pristina, is known for its vibrant street life and unique blend of cultures. I was especially impressed to see a very big Ukrainian flag displayed on the central square, a symbol of solidarity that stood out during my visit. The main…